Frank Commisso Jr., Democratic primary candidate for the 109th Assembly District, speaks during a meeting with the Times Union editorial board, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2012, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. (Will Waldron / Times Union) less

Frank Commisso Jr., Democratic primary candidate for the 109th Assembly District, speaks during a meeting with the Times Union editorial board, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2012, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. (Will ... more

Photo: Will Waldron

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Jim Coyne, at his office at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, NY on Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) Jim Coyne, poses inside the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, NY on Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Jim Coyne, at his office at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, NY on Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) Jim Coyne, poses inside the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, NY on Tuesday, ... more

Photo: PAUL BUCKOWSKI

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Christopher Higgins, Democratic primary candidate for the 109th Assembly District, speaks during a meeting with the Times Union editorial board, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2012, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. (Will Waldron / Times Union) less

Christopher Higgins, Democratic primary candidate for the 109th Assembly District, speaks during a meeting with the Times Union editorial board, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2012, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. ... more

Photo: Will Waldron

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William McCarthy, Democratic primary candidate for the 109th Assembly District, speaks during a meeting with the Times Union editorial board, Thursday Aug. 30, 2012, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. (Will Waldron / Times Union) less

William McCarthy, Democratic primary candidate for the 109th Assembly District, speaks during a meeting with the Times Union editorial board, Thursday Aug. 30, 2012, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. (Will ... more

Patricia Fahy, Democratic primary candidate for the 109th Assembly District, during a meeting with the Times Union editorial board, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. (Will Waldron / Times Union) less

Patricia Fahy, Democratic primary candidate for the 109th Assembly District, during a meeting with the Times Union editorial board, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. (Will Waldron / ... more

Photo: Will Waldron

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ALBANY — For the first time in two decades, someone new will hold the coveted Assembly seat that includes the state Capitol.

On Thursday, six Democrats will meet in a primary to determine who will succeed retiring Assemblyman Jack McEneny and carry the party's flag in the November election in hopes of keeping the seat that's been in Democrats' hands since 1971.

All six Democrats are from the city of Albany, despite the fact that a little more than half the 39,630 enrolled Democrats in the 109th Assembly District live in the suburban towns of Bethlehem, Guilderland and New Scotland.

In the wake of the elder Commisso's departure, the committee's membership ultimately decided to endorse no one, triggering the wide-open — and money-soaked — primary that has both divided the party and forged unusual alliances.

Commisso Jr. is endorsed by, among others, Mayor Jerry Jennings, with whom he's often sparred as a member of the Common Council. He has represented the city's 15th Ward around the University at Albany's uptown campus since 2010. Commisso has made controlling the rise of property taxes a centerpiece of his campaign.

Next is former County Executive and County Clerk Jim Coyne, 68, who is best known for steering the construction of the county-owned downtown area now known as Times Union Center — a project that ultimately landed him on the radar of federal prosecutors.

Coyne, who served from 1976 to 1991 as the county's first executive, was convicted in 1992 of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and mail fraud — partly in connection with a $30,000 loan from the arena's architect — and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison.

But since his release, Coyne — who has always maintained his innocence — has been involved in the resurgence of the Washington Avenue Armory, where he served as general manager until 2009, and the brief return of the Albany Patroons basketball team to its home court there. He contends he has the most solid government experience and the maturity to do the job.

Patricia Fahy, 54, is a former Albany school board president and state and federal labor department official. Fahy, who most recently worked as an associate commissioner of intergovernmental affairs and federal policy in the state Department of Labor, has landed the endorsements of the Working Families Party and Citizen Action — standard-bearers in the progressive Democratic community — as well as establishment Democrats, including party Chairman Matthew Clyne. She also has the support of two-thirds of the Common Council.

Among other things, Fahy, who served on the school board between 2002 and 2005, has made reforming the way the state funds public schools a centerpiece of her campaign, calling the existing system political, unfair and a contributing factor to residents' growing property tax bills.

County Legislator Christopher Higgins, 32, who most recently has worked as a lawyer for the state Senate Democrats, has spent five years representing the Albany neighborhoods around Center Square. In a crowded primary in which the Democrats broadly agree on most issues — from their support for increasing minimum wage to at least a baseline skepticism of the safety of hydraulic fracturing — Higgins has sought to separate himself.

He is the only candidate of the six who unequivocally opposes the construction of the city's proposed $220 million downtown convention center, and he also supports an outright statewide ban on hydrofracking. The retiring McEneny is one of the convention center's most ardent boosters and serves on the board of the state authority charged with building it.

Higgins has also trumpeted his legislative accomplishments at the local level, including a law requiring restaurants to publicly post the simplified results of their health inspections.

William McCarthy Jr., 31, a lawyer and political newcomer making his first bid for public office, has racked up the endorsements of many state and local public-sector unions — including the Public Employees Federation — as well as Empire State Pride Agenda, the state's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group.

Most recently, McCarthy has worked as an assistant attorney general specializing in defending the state against civil litigation, and before that he worked in private practice for the firm Couch White. Like Higgins, McCarthy has said he would not conduct legal work outside his job as a legislator and favors full disclosure of their outside clients by lawmakers who do.

McCarthy has also advocated a moratorium on new unfunded mandates from the state on local governments and supports expanded gun control, including ammunition microstamping.

Margarita Perez, 49, a paralegal and chief of staff in the Albany office to Queens state Sen. Jose Peralta, rounds out the field. Perez says her knowledge of how the state legislative system works and her willingness to create partnerships to solve problems make her the best candidate for the job.

Perez was inspired to run for office, she said, by her personal experience seeing how Assemblymen George Amedore and Jim Tedisco used their positions of authority in a positive way to come to the aid of her and her neighbors when they faced losing their homes amid a closure of their Duanesburg mobile home park.

Fahy and Republican Ted Danz, of Guilderland, are also in a two-way primary for the Independence Party line.

Danz, 65, the founder of Family Danz Heating and Air Conditioning, is also running a write-in effort to wrest the Conservative Party line from Joseph Sullivan,75, of Albany, who is endorsed by the Conservative Party.

Democrats outnumber Republicans about 2.5 to 1 in the district, making the secondary ballot lines all but essential for Danz.